2016 Plans

Just to be clear, this plan is a contingency, a backup, a Plan B. With the rumour and apparent confirmation from Michael Pickwoad that Series 10 might not air at all during 2016, I’ve decided to compile a list of ways we could pass the time before we get any more TV goodness from our favourite Time Lord.

Big FinishIf you haven’t been sucked into the magnificent world of Big Finish, than maybe 2016 will be your time to start. Before this year, many people saw Big Finish as a source for new stories based on Classic Doctors and, if you only got into the show since the revival, then this may have put you off. But fear not! Big Finish has already started creating fantastic audio dramas based on New Who too! Earlier this week they released UNIT: Extinction which is the first series based on ideas from the revival (review coming soon), but there’s so much more coming; there’s the return of John Hurt in The War Doctor: Only The Monstrous, The Diary of River Song which will feature Alex Kingston reprising her role as the infamous archaeologist, The Churchill Years which features Ian McNiece playing the former Prime Minister as he recollects his meetings with the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctors. Then of course in May we see the return of David Tennant and Catherine Tate in The Tenth Doctor Adventures which is already set to be a big hit, and for those who like a mix of the old and the new, there’s the intriguing Classic Doctors, New Monsters which pits the Fifth Doctor against the Weeping Angels, the Sixth Doctor against the Judoon, the Seventh Doctor against the Sycorax and the Eighth Doctor against the Sontarans.
Big Finish doesn’t just end with Doctor Who though, they also offer some other great ranges. Personal favourites for me have to be The Confessions of Dorian Gray which are superbly crafted about the man who sold his soul and Survivors which is an apocalyptic tale of humanity and Britishness.

The ComicsNow I have to confess, I haven’t really gotten into the Doctor Who comics just yet, mainly due to monetary restraints, but with continuous series following the Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors, as well as mini-series featuring the Eighth and Ninth, as well as multi-Doctor special stories, and the just announced Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane mini-series due to hit shelves in March of 2016, it seems like the perfect time to get both emotionally and financially invested in these stories.

The BooksSome of the best Doctor Who isn’t televised, it’s written down. The best perk about having Doctor Who books is that to properly enjoy them for the fun they are, you have to actively read them to have any kind of pay off. The difference between literature and television is that whilst TV is great, it’s also passive, you can have it on in the background whilst flicking through Twitter and still have a good idea of what’s going on on screen. With books however, you have to make reading the book your primary objective, any distractions become annoying, it’s just you and the book; and that’s something a lot of people forget to do. Some of the best televisual Doctor Who stories are also inspired by books, Human Naturefor example was based on the book of the same name. The one good thing with Doctor Who being such a long running show too is that there’s an expansive back catalogue of books for you to read, so chances are you won’t read every Doctor Who book before Series 10 eventually airs.

Be Inspired
Of course it’s all well and good you consuming lots of Whovian related media, but that doesn’t mean you have to just be a sponge and absorb all of these things, you’re more than welcome to contribute to the Whovian community with your own work. It doesn’t have to be writing the next Big Finish story or creating an incredibly detailed comic book, you could write your own fan-fiction, record the next great Trock song, start reviewing the Doctor Who you have at hand, create a YouTube channel based around the show, learn how to play the spoons like the Seventh Doctor, just be creative! If there’s one thing that shows dedication to a show, it’s getting stuck in and doing bits for yourself. The fan art above I absolutely adore, not just because it’s the Doctor’s as owls, it’s also because it has a punny title; ‘Doctor Hoo’. If you have a talent, which everyone does, chances are you can apply it creatively to Doctor Who.

So those are a few of my ideas as to how to kill time until Series 10 airs, unless of course you have a TARDIS, in which case, you’re fine. Also, can I have a lift?